Unit 2 Reader Grade 3 Rattenborough’s Guide to Animals Grade 3 Unit 2 Rattenborough’s Guide to Animals Reader ISBN 978-1-68161-222-5 © 2015 The Core Knowledge Foundation and its licensors www.coreknowledge.org Cover © 2017 Amplify Education, Inc. and its licensors www.amplify.com All Rights Reserved. Core Knowledge Language Arts and CKLA are trademarks of the Core Knowledge Foundation. Trademarks and trade names are shown in this book strictly for illustrative and educational purposes and are the property of their respective owners. References herein should not be regarded as affecting the validity of said trademarks and trade names. Printed in the USA 02 LSCOW 2017 Table of Contents Rattenborough’s Guide to Animals Unit 2 Reader Chapter 1: Introduction: Meet Rattenborough �. 2 Chapter 2: Classifying Living Things . 10 Chapter 3: Vertebrate or Invertebrate? . 20 Chapter 4: Warm-Blooded and Cold-Blooded Animals. 26 Chapter 5: Fish . 34 Chapter 6: Fish: Fins and Gills �. 42 Chapter 7: Amphibians . 58 Chapter 8: Tree Frogs . 66 Chapter 9: The Poison Dart Frog . 74 Chapter 10: Reptiles: Cold-Blooded Scaly Vertebrates . 80 Chapter 11: Reptiles . 92 Chapter 12: Birds. 98 Chapter 13: Mammals �. 104 Chapter 14: Jane Goodall. 112 Chapter 15: Scientists Who Classify Animals . .120 Chapter 16: Vertebrate Animals Around the World. 128 Pausing Point (Additional Chapters for Enrichment) Chapter 17: Deep-Sea Fish �. 140 Chapter 18: The Komodo Dragon �. 148 Glossary for Rattenborough's Guide to Animals . .157 Chapter Introduction: Meet 1 Rattenborough Greetings! Rattenborough, the famous explorer and animal expert here! Remember me? I taught you all about animals and habitats when you were just little kids in first grade. I’ve been busy since then traveling around the world. But, I’m back now to teach you everything I’ve learned about animals during my travels. First, let’s take a quick look at what you learned in first grade. Do you remember what a habitat is? A habitat is the place where animals and plants live. We learned that there are different habitats all over the world with different kinds of animals and plants living there. We visited a desert habitat where it was very hot and dry. It hardly ever rains in a desert so the plants and animals that live there have to be able to get by with very little water. I bet you remember that cactus plants live in the desert, along with snakes and lizards. 2 Rattenborough in one habitat. 3 We also visited an African savanna. A savanna is also called a grassland. There were lots of interesting animals living there—zebras, elephants, and even lions! To be perfectly honest, I was always a little nervous while we were in the savanna! Next, we checked out some different kinds of forests. We went to a hardwood forest full of trees with leaves that change color and drop off in the fall. We saw squirrels, deer, and even bears. We saw lots of different kinds of birds in those tall trees. Then, we visited a tropical rainforest that was very hot, humid, and wet. There were lots of birds in this forest, too. These birds were colorful, tropical birds like toucans and parrots. 4 Rattenborough in three habitats 5 Last, but not least, we visited freshwater and saltwater habitats. In the freshwater habitat, we saw fish, turtles, ducks, and beavers. In the saltwater habitat of the sea, we saw starfish, crabs, lobsters, and sharks! 6 Rattenborough in two water habitats 7 Besides learning about habitats in first grade, we also studied the different kinds of things that animals eat. Do you remember talking about herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores? We learned that you can sort animals by what they eat. So, get ready because we are going to learn a lot more about how to sort animals. Rattenborough, your personal animal expert, at your service! See you next time! 8 HERBIVORES Eat only plants OMNIVORES Eat plants and meat CARNIVORES Eat mainly meat Different animals eat different things. 9 Chapter Classifying 2 Living Things Rattenborough here! Do you remember who I am? I’m here now to help you learn about how scientists sort, or classify, living things into groups. Since I am an expert on animals, we will focus mainly on animals. First, I’m going to ask you two very important questions. How do you know if something is living or nonliving? What important characteristics do all living things have? • All living things create energy from food. • All living things can have babies or make other living things just like themselves. • All living things have a life cycle. They start out small and then grow. • All living things change to fit in better with their habitat. 10 All living things are classified by their characteristics. 11 Plants make up one group of living things. We know this because plants have the same characteristics that all living things have. • Plants create energy from food. They make their own food using the sun, water, and gases in the air. • Plants make seeds that become new plants. • Plants grow from small seeds into seedlings and become adult plants. • Plants can adapt to their habitat. For example, all plants need water, but a cactus in a dry desert does not need as much water as other plants. 12 Plants have the characteristics that all living things have. 13 Animals of all shapes and sizes are living things, too. So, animals also have the same characteristics that all living things have. • Animals get energy from the food they eat. • Animals can have babies. • Baby animals are small but grow into adult animals. • Animals can adapt to their habitat. For example, the fur of polar bears looks white so they can blend in with the snow where they live. 14 Animals have the characteristics that all living things have. 15 Plants and animals are both living things, but plants and animals are different in important ways. For example, animals move from place to place, but plants do not. Scientists study how living things are alike and different and sort, or classify, them into large groups called kingdoms. There are five kingdoms of living things. You have just learned about two—the plant kingdom and the animal kingdom. (You will learn about the other kingdoms in later grades.) The living things in each kingdom can then be sorted into more specific groups. Scientists study animals within the animal kingdom and classify them by the characteristics they share with other animals. One way scientists classify animals into more specific groups is by checking if an animal has a backbone. Insects do not have backbones, but birds and fish do. So, animals with a backbone are in different, more specific groups within the animal kingdom. Insects make up the largest group in the animal kingdom. But there are other large groups of animals, such as birds and fish. You will learn more about other major groups in future chapters. 16 LIVING THINGS KINGDOM KINGDOM PLANTS ANIMAL KINGDOM INVERTEBRATES VERTEBRATES Scientists classify living things into five kingdoms. They classify animals into other groups by their characteristics. 17 We classify the things around us so we can get to know our world better. As we learn about living things, we also learn about ourselves and our place in the world. So far, scientists have classified over 1 million different kinds of animals. Most of these are insects! Many scientists think there may be close to 10 million other animals that still have not been classified! That’s all for now! Rattenborough, over and out! I’ll be back in the next chapter to tell you more about how animals are classified into different groups. 18 Insects are the largest group of animals. 19 Chapter Vertebrate or 3 Invertebrate? Rattenborough, here again! You have learned that scientists who study the animal kingdom classify animals into different groups, based on different characteristics. Some characteristics scientists study are: • what makes up the animal’s skin, such as hair or scales • whether animals give birth to live babies or lay eggs • whether mothers feed their babies milk from their own bodies • whether animals are warm-blooded or cold-blooded 20 Scientists classify living things by different characteristics, such as what is on their skin, if they lay eggs or have live babies, how they feed their babies, and whether they are warm-blooded or cold-blooded. 21 Another key characteristic that scientists study is whether animals have a backbone. Animals that have a backbone are called vertebrates. Humans are vertebrates. Place your hand on the back of your neck until you feel a bump. Now, rub your hand up and down the middle of your back. Do you feel bumpy bones that run in a row down your back, from your neck down to your waist? That’s your backbone. Another name for a backbone is a spine. The backbone or spine wraps around and protects an important part of your body called the spinal cord. The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves. Messages travel up and down your spinal cord from your brain to other parts of your body. This is the way that your brain sends signals telling the other parts of your body what to do. 22 Humans have a backbone and are classified as vertebrates. 23 Many other animals also are vertebrates. All mammals, reptiles, fish, and birds have a backbone, so they are all vertebrates. They have some type of spinal cord, too. Animals with a backbone come in all different shapes and sizes. Apes, rhinos, horses, rabbits, bats— and yes, rats and humans, too—are all mammals and vertebrates.